Biography

Glen Cook's love of writing began in grade school, and in high
school he wrote the occasional article for his school's newspaper.
After high school, Cook spent time in the United States
Navy and later worked his way through college, leaving little
time for his writing endeavors. Cook began to write in earnest
while working for General Motors at an auto assembly
plant. Cook claims that his job was simple enough to leave him
ample time to write while at work; in fact, Cook admits to having
written as many as three books per year while working at the
plant.[1]

It was during this time that Cook wrote his first novel of The Black
Company, a gritty fantasy series that follows an elite
mercenary unit through several decades of their history. The
series, currently 10 novels long, has become something of a cult
classic, especially among current and former members of the military. When asked about
the series' popularity among soldiers, Cook replied: "The
characters act like the guys actually behave. It doesn't glorify
war; it's just people getting on with the job. The characters are
real soldiers. They're not soldiers as imagined by people who've
never been in the service. That's why service guys like it."[2] Cook
is also well known for his Garrett P.I. series, which tells the
haphazard adventures of hardboileddetective Garrett, and his Dread Empire
series, which highlights Cook's earlier published work.

Cook is currently retired from his job at GM, living with his
wife, Carol, and children (Justin, Chris, and Mike) in St.
Louis, Missouri.
Although he can now devote himself full-time to his writing career,
he feels he was actually more productive while he was still
employed at his old job.[2]

The Chronicles of The Black Company (collects The
Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White
Rose) (November 2007)

The Books of the South (collects Shadow
Games, Dreams of Steel, and The Silver
Spike) (June 2008)

The Return of The Black Company (collects Bleak
Seasons, and She Is The Darkness) (September
2009)

The Many Deaths of The Black Company (collects
Water Sleeps, and Soldiers Live) (January
2010)

Short story

"Raker"—appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science
Fiction (August 1982). This was a pre-publication excerpt
of chapter 3 from The Black Company, with slight editing
differences to make it stand alone as a short story.